I’m sure anyone who was hiking around Sky Pond a few Mondays ago would have seen me and my buddy Chris halfway up the Petit Grepon looking like a couple of uberdorks. So if you were out there, yep, that was me up there. The guy in the white tightpants. Actually, Chris didn’t look like...
Category Archives: Adventures
Mother of all rope swings
Here’s a crazy shot I just came across while organizing my Web site. I shot a Montana wedding last summer at the Holland Lake Lodge, which is on Holland Lake outside of Missoula. Really cool place, really beautiful setting. The lodge is on a tiny little peninsula jutting out into this serene, gorgeous lake. Check...
New Routing in Wanaka
Okay, this is pretty rad. We stayed at a friend of a friend’s house in Wanaka for about a week, and part way through our visit, Ben decided to let us in on a little secret.
Way up on a hill above a river he’d discovered a huge crag that he was trying to develop. The...
Routeburn Track
Ten days ago we backpacked into the Routeburn Track, a beautiful trail in the Remarkables mountain range. The Routeburn is considered the little brother of the Milford Track, and it’s where everyone winds up who can’t get a Milford Track reservation (which we scored last October). The route is a three-day hike over the Southern...
Rain, rain, go away
Right now we’re in the town of Wanaka. Climbed yesterday and are weathering out a storm in the comfort of the van. Apparently the Milford Track is due for 200mm of rain today. Good thing we left when we did. Last night we watched a movie in the car on the laptop, and today we’re...
Rest Day in Milford
We were feeling lethargic — a little ill, perhaps, or maybe just beat from working an impossible climb the day before — so we all decided to have a rest day in and around Milford Sound. Here’s a picture of that impossible climb. It’s a ridiculous 5.12c that’s got a bolt every three feet until...
Those Milford Track pictures…
So here are some of those Milford Track pictures I promised…
Milford!
After our last little adventure, we decided to have some R&R on the Milford Track, often called the finest walk in the world. Though it’s a 4-day, 55-km hike, you get to stay in well-equipped huts (no tents allowed!) complete with beds and gas cookers. Pretty posh. Beautiful rain forests for the first two days,...
Keeeeeeaaaaaaaaaa!
Last time I was in NZ, about 6 years ago, I cruised with my friend Andrew to this place called Twin Stream. It’s an amazing glacial valley high above the road to Mt. Cook. The guidebook said a 2 hour hike in from the trailhead and the weatherman said to expect sun. No problem, we...
Castle Hill, Bouldering Mecca
After we finished our sea kayaking trip, we headed toward Castle Hill, which is basically one of the world’s bouldering hotspots. The weather was perfect — the sun, miraculously, seems to be chasing us — so we climbed there for 5 days. The rocks are bizarre limestone blobs scattered on a few huge grassy hills,...